On “Black Confederates”

I don’t really think much of the position that some in the SCV and neo-Confederates (yes, I recognize a difference between the two, though at times, people from the two sets are one-in-the-same under the same neo-Confederate ideology) have taken regarding Black Confederates. Quite honestly, I think there is a substantial body of counter-information being selectively neglected when developing pro-Confederate ideology about Black Confederates. Just as some try hard to make their case by digging for information about Black Confederate, I think that others can (and should) take the time to begin tallying the numbers of Southern blacks (slave and free) who 1) fled the South for the North altogether (the war offering that opportunity), 2) were FORCED (without firearms, of course) into the service of the Confederacy during the war, and 3) left slavery or life as free blacks to join the ranks of the Union army (U.S.C.T. regiments as well as serving in different capacities in other units and branches of the U.S. military). I have no doubt that the job of tallying these numbers would be a difficult task, but I do believe that it would be worthwhile.

At one point in time I was looking for evidence of Black Confederates in my home county. It’s funny, but only after having given up that task did I actually found one. Charles Brown was a slave in Page County, Virginia at the opening of the war, and in some way, was given permission to hire himself out as a cook to Confederate officers in Co. K (Page Volunteers), of the Tenth Virginia Infantry. It appears that he may have started his work as a cook sometime in 1862, but that was never made clear in my findings. He stuck it out with the Tenth Virginia through Spotsylvania Court House (May 12, 1864) and was even among those who worked at burying the Confederate dead after that battle. This was no great find, as it is commonly known that this sort of thing happened throughout the war. However, what struck me the most was that, within three weeks of Spotsylvania Court House, Brown was shown as having enlisted in the Tenth. Regretfully, all that exists is the initial record card that shows that he did enlist (though there is no mention of his being black). I could find nothing after the date of his enlistment pertaining to being a musket-bearing member of the regiment (he actually enlisted as a cook) or if he ever received a pension as a former “Black Confederate.”

That said, I was also able to identify (also from the number of slaves and free blacks of Page County) free blacks who were forced to work as laborers for the Confederacy (John Dogan was one one free black who gave a great account of this in his loyalist claim) and one slave, Noah Thornton, who left Page for the deep South and joined the 82nd U.S.C.T.

Ultimately, looking for Black Confederates without considering the other blacks who weren’t supportive of the Confederacy is telling a half-story and showing the utter ignorance (and slanted agenda) of those who continue on that path.

1) fled the South for the North altogether (the war offering that opportunity), 2) were FORCED (without firearms, of course) into the service of the Confederacy during the war, and 3) left slavery or life as free blacks to join the ranks of the Union army (U.S.C.T. regiments as well as serving in different capacities in other units and branches of the U.S. military). I have no doubt that the job of tallying these numbers would be a difficult task, but I do believe that it would be worthwhile.
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“…it is the intention of the Secretary of War that all able-bodied negroes that can be reached shall be taken
to fill up the colored regiments.

At the same time it is desirable that we should make a wide distinction between the Southern citizens who have been loyal and those who have not; also a distinction between those who have not been
loyal, but now express a voluntary willingness to return to their allegiance and employ their negroes in accordance with existing orders, and those who hold out in their acknowledgment of a Southern Confederacy. I would lay down, then, as a rule, that negroes who have belonged to persons of known loyalty only be recruited as free white persons are; that is, when they come and offer themselves. Of the
second class they may be visited by recruiting officers and the option given them to enlist, and the able-bodied negroes of the third class of citizens may be taken possession [of] with or without their own consent.

All negroes who have not been employed in accordance with published orders may be taken to put in the ranks…”

Maj.Gen. U.S. Grant, 28 August 1863

War of the Rebellion…official records of the Union and Confederate armies. Series 3, Volume 3, p.735

“…All able-bodied colored men between the ages of eighteen and fifty, within the military lines of the Department of the South, who have had an opportunity to enlist voluntarily and refused to do so, shall be drafted into the military service of the United States, to serve as non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the various regiments and batteries now being organized in the department…”

Maj.Gen. J.G. Foster, 16 August 1864

War of the Rebellion….Series 3, Volume 4, p.621

Blacks who were slaves of “disloyal” masters were subject to the draft if they did not volunteer.

This is information about actions proposed, but what evidence exists to show that these actions were actually carried out? Furthermore, what evidence exists to show that the slaves themselves actually felt that they were “forced” into the ranks? Also, I’m not totally sold on the idea that slaves of disloyal masters were actually drafted. I see it as an opportunity by Union commands to affect a more intimidating brand of liberation of slaves from those owners who had not adhered to the Emancipation. From the viewpoint of a slaveowner it would probably hold more teeth (sharper pressure to comply with the Emancipation, perhaps) than the threat of Union soldiers taking the slaves and simply categorizing slaves as contraband. The idea of arming a slave, volunteer or not, could well have put shivers down the spines of many a slaveowner.

Actually, evidence about the service of African-Americans in the US Navy stands in contrast with an argument that slaves were “forced” into the service of the Union military. In fact, there is record of slaves being turned away from enlisting in the Navy on the Mississippi (or was it the Red River? I can’t recall right now), not even able to serve as cooks. The Navy had to turn them away because the ships could not effectively accomodate the huge (emphasis on huge) numbers that had flocked to the shores of the river seeking freedom. There are two particularly good articles about blacks in the US Navy during the Civil War available through JSTOR. I will have to see if I can find my copies in order to cite the titles, but they are probably tucked away in my files, not having read them for about two years.

I’m afraid your source for information about Charles Brown is incorrect. Having reviewed company records on the microfilm and having my copy of the regimental history on-hand, I have it that Charles M. Brown enlisted in Co. K, 10th Virginia Infantry on June 5, 1864 as a cook. Also, the records for the company do not end in Jan/Feb 1864. They are incomplete after June 1864, but that isn’t surprising considering the company was pretty much “gobbled-up” at Spotsylvania CH and sent to Pt. Lookout (excepting some officers who ended up part of the Immortal 600). Records for members in the company do exist through the fall of 1864 (Ambrose Yowell, for example, was enlisted on 10/17/1864 at Camp Lee – incidentally, though the enlistment does not say it outright, Camp Lee was used for a staging ground for entry of conscripts into the ranks of the Confederate army). I’m also in possession of a good number of papers from veterans of the company, including a very detailed roster compiled by the veterans of the company (with the help of a commander of a SCV Camp) in 1914. Charles Brown is not mentioned anywhere in those papers, not even as a cook. The only other reference I found about his service (prior to enlistment actually) was in a brief clipping from the local (Luray, Va) newspaper from the early twentieth century. I have scoured all issues of the newspaper (for the years from 1867-1940) for every slice of information about the war, and, apart from the military record, that newspaper article was all that I could find about Charles M. Brown.

“Charles Brown, colored, of Pennsylvania, a native of this county, is a specimen of his race with a record for push and progressiveness. Way back in the year 1846, Brown was born near Rileyville and was the property of Miss Sophia Wood, falling to her by the distribution of slaves during the division of her father’s effects. Brown, who is in Luray on a visit after an absence of twenty-five years, was born on the river west of Rileyville, at the place once owned by the late Minor Conn, who was the grandson of Joshua Wood, at one time a leading land owner of the northern part of Page County. The venerable specimen of his race recalls many of the stirring things that were co-temperaneous with his boyhood days in the Rileyville section, telling how often at the midnight hour he had crossed the Shenandoah river in a frail craft in search of the most popular ‘medicine’ that was known in those days and which he says was a panacea for all ills. This, the old man says, always brought the patient around alright and he says it did not have its modern successor – a ‘bursting’ headache. Brown says along about the year ’62, when this country was in strife Captain David C. Grayson, of Washington; Dr. T[Theodore] H. Lauck, of Texas, and the late [Erasmus] Lee Bell, of Lynchburg, learning of his goodly cooking qualities, sought his services as a cook in the Confederate army. Through a part of the war Brown went with these men looking after their welfare on this line. He was with them at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House, assisting in the burial of Confederate dead. The old man, crippled by his 74 years, says that the only difference he has been able to see between slavery days and the present were the restrictions that were thrown around him going where he wanted though this he believes was offset by the plentitude of all things good to eat in those times. Brown claims his part in the awakening of Luray thirty and forty years ago, for he says he was the first man that ever struck a pick for the excavation for the famous Luray Inn and the passenger station at this place., declaring also he took part in building the stations between Charles Town. W.Va. and Luray, later going to Roanoke where he did similar work while in the employ of the late Julius C. Holmes, of Charles Town, who it is known had this work in hand. After working in Roanoke for a while, Brown was stricken with ‘Pennsylvania fever,’ going to Washington, in that State, where he has ever since resided as a janitor of a number of public buildings and to which he will return as soon as he has looked over he scenes that brought happiness to him in the days when he was a Page pickaninny.”

Sorry borderruffian, but I accidentally deleted your last comment about the muster rolls and Charles M. Brown. You mentioned that your roster findings about Brown came from the National Archives (microfilm). Are you referencing somebody else’s work online or do you have first-hand access to the microfilm from your location? If the information you cite is from an online source, I have reservations. I have found frequent errors in (to name a few) ancestry.com records and the Soldiers & Sailors system. These online sources “cite” the same records (from the National Archives), but regretfully, in the process of mass roster compilations, a number of errors were made.

My information was collected first-hand, by me, at the National Archives several years ago. I would probably be second-guessing myself considering your determination to say otherwise, however, the only regimental history to exist for the 10th Virginia Infantry supports my notes. As opposed to the online rosters, a positive feature of the Virginia Regimental Histories Series is that the authors of the series focused on only one regiment (or, in my case, on average, about three artillery companies at one time) and its roster for anywhere from 10 months to a couple of years while writing the book. Granted, there are errors in these books as well, but not as frequent as what one would find in the online resources.

Also, no disrespect intended, but this line of discussion has run astray of your original comment – that slaves were “forced” into the ranks of the USCT. If you have information that supports your theory, I am still very interested in learning about it.